The South African Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) has slammed salary increases for municipal managers, saying that ordinary municipal workers were given "peanuts" in comparison.

"When municipal workers demand a fairer salary increment they are told that their demands are simply unaffordable. Whereas those sitting in air-conditioned offices are swimming in pools of money. Those who are subjected to rain, wind and sun daily are given peanuts," general secretary Simon Mathe said in a statement on Thursday.

On November 8, the salaries of City managers were gazetted. They are expected to receive an annual salary of R3.9m while those who reported directly to them will receive more than R3m annually.

"It is a shame that these increases were gazetted [in] the same week that Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers' salaries were increased by a mere R4.31 per day.

"It does not make sense how a municipal manager can be remunerated 180 times more than the least paid employee in the sector. These are the people who are responsible for the real business of service delivery," Mathe added.

The union said the inflated salaries should rather be redirected towards the remuneration of workers.

"We maintain that the ridiculous and highly inflated salaries given to municipal managers should be redirected towards service delivery and for better remunerating municipal workers," Mathe concluded.